Yesterday was our last morning in Bogota, and we spent it enjoying fresh fruit from a street cart, delicious coffee from a cafe, and Chipotle style Mexican food. We also made a stop at the Botero Museum to see all of the works of the famous Colombian artist, Botero. He specializes in all things fat, from a statue of a giant, fat hand, to a statue of a fat man on a fat horse. He also has numerous paintings of fat women, men, children and animals. It was all very interesting, to say the least.
After enjoying the last bits of Bogota, we made our way to the bus terminal to catch a bus to Santa Marta. We successfully purchased tickets in Spanish for the next bus, and waited patiently, taking in the sights and sounds of the bus terminal. True to what we had read, the bus was heavily air conditioned, and we immiediately bundled up for the ride. My wool socks and I have become pretty close over the last few days due to the chilly nights in Bogota. Leaving Bogota, we saw some of the poverty on the outskirts of the city. We also encountered traffic comparable to that of South East Asia. I had planned to be productive on the bus ride; however, the first few hours were spent winding through the mountains and I was forced to watch out the window, for fear of being sick. This wasn’t completely a bad thing because the countryside is beautiful. The mountains are majestic and covered with lush greenery. It was like a scene from the Land Before Time, minus the dinosaurs!
Some time after the sun had set, we came to a standstill in traffic going through the mountains, and this slowed down our trip immensely. At some point during the night, I drifted to sleep and slept on and off until the morning. I woke up at one point during the night and saw the landscape whizzing by. I remember waking up on a night bus in Vietnam, looking out the window and realizing that I had woken up because of the potholes we were going over. It was literally like we were driving over a series of miniature mountains. It was both nauseating and terrifying. Needless to say, my bus experience in South America has already surpassed my experiences in Asia.
Our bus arrived in the coastal town of Santa Marta around 9:30, 2 and a half hours late, having made it a total of 20 hours of travel. For the difference in price, I’m wondering if we should have just flown. Much of travel is about the experiences though, and nothing says experience like an overnight bus through the mountains in Colombia! Either way, we made it! Upon stepping off the bus, we were accosted with heat. The temperature was an unrelenting 30 degrees early this morning, and has only increased into the afternoon. The best way to describe how I’ve felt since arriving in Santa Marta is hot and sticky; kind of like a melted popsicle.
We checked into our hostel, Masaya Hostel, and explored the 3 floors of luxury living. We may be staying in a dorm room, but we have 2 pools, a rooftop bar, a pool table, a restaurant, and we can charge purchases to our room! From there, we set out to explore Santa Marta. We are only 3 blocks from the beach and the ocean, and we have already sought out ice cream and iced coffee. In that span of time, we also found the missing population of Bogota. Apparently people from Bogota holiday in Santa Marta in January and February, which explains why Bogota seemed so quiet, and why it is so busy here. A city of just over 400,000 people should not be this crowded!
We have spent much of the afternoon lounging outside reading, and sipping gazpacho and eating ceviche. Despite the fact that I haven’t stopped sweating for the last 8 hours, life is good down here!